The present invention relates to a process for the treatment of a liquid mass enabling the latter to be raised, positioned and moulded without contact with the walls of a container and in particular permitting the shaping of materials by solidification.
Processes involving shaping by moulding lead to considerable problems when the liquids are corrosive, as is the case with high temperature metal alloys. The main problems caused are those of physical and physicochemical compatibilities between the material forming the container and the liquid. Reactions can take place between the two materials, which is prejudicial to the purity of the product obtained, whilst there can be incompatible dimensional variations during solidification and as a function of the relative values of the thermal expansion coefficients.
This has led to the use of new methods serving to eliminate the containers through the action of electromagnetic, electrostatic, acoustic and even optical lifting forces. However, these methods are difficult to use and can only be applied to small masses under the earth's gravity. Moreover, they do not permit the shaping of liquid masses.